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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27119374">Looking for Greenberg</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothing_much/pseuds/nothing_much'>nothing_much</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:02:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27119374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothing_much/pseuds/nothing_much</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I read somewhere that Greenberg could be a figment of Coach Finstock’s imagination. So I set out to look for him. Greenberg that is. And well, I’m not doing the searching myself. I let Stiles and Lydia help me. Something is not right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Looking for Greenberg</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started with something someone said during one of the pack meetings. It wasn’t really anything important. Just some off handed comment about the only one with less lacrosse playing time than Stiles was that Greenberg kid, but it somehow got Stiles in a head spin. And when he thought about it, he couldn’t see Greenberg’s face when he tried to place him. He thought for a moment, and realised he didn’t have a clue who Greenberg was. </p>
<p>He asked the others about it. </p>
<p>It seemed that no one had ever seen Greenberg, they’d all heard about him, and the only teacher to ever mention him was the coach. So either there was a guy called Greenberg, who only attended Coach Finstock’s lessons, or, well the coach was well known to make names up when he forgot names. As Bilinski knew for himself. In the end they agreed on three alternatives. </p>
<p>First one, Greenberg was someone from one of the grades below, who for some reason was allowed to be on the team.</p>
<p>Second, Greenberg was one of the guys on the team, who, like Stiles had a difficult name to remember, maybe it was close to Greenberg, or that resembled it, so coach called him Greenberg,</p>
<p>Or third, Greenberg was a figment of the coach’s imagination. </p>
<p>Stiles wasn’t sure but the second option was probably the right one. Anyway, it got Lydia’s attention and she agreed to investigate it with him, which made everyone else offer to chip in with help. No one seemed bothered by the obscure Greenberg though. </p>
<p>After that they started to pay attention to the name Greenberg, and as they’d deducted in their discussion, only Finstock ever mentioned the guy. As the week passed they definitely ruled out Scott, Jackson and Danny as Greenberg. The jury was still out on Stiles himself. He himself was sure he was only called Bilinski. </p>
<p>Neither him, nor Lydia had gotten any closer to whom Greenberg could be. They’d discussed it, and both of them had been paying attention in Econ. Lydia had even attended the Lacrosse practice, standing in the bleachers being attentive to what happened in the field. </p>
<p>At the end of the second day of the third week, Stiles had gotten extra detention for ignoring coach in Econ, when he focused on trying to figure out who Finstock had been talking to when he spoke to, or rather scolded Greenberg in class. No such luck though. The only thing he was sure of was that Greenberg was sitting in one of the rows behind him. That wasn’t much help since he himself sat in the front row. Scott, Jackson and Danny sitting beside him, everyone else sat behind them. The only thing that did, was ruling out his friends as possible suspects of being called Greenberg.</p>
<p>Stiles decided to take his chance during detention. It almost seemed like fate that he would be alone in the study hall, with coach Finstock. He closed in on the man and sat down in front of his desk. Looking straight at him.</p>
<p>“So?” he started and was careful to look Finstock in the eye. The man looked confused as if he was surprised being addressed by a student during detention. </p>
<p>“Yes, Bilinski” he answered.</p>
<p>“So, I have to ask you, I’ve been wondering for a while now” he told coach who looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. “Greenberg…” he followed up.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Finstock looked somewhat apprehensive “what about Greenberg?”</p>
<p>Stiles decided to be blunt.</p>
<p>“He doesn’t exist, does he?” he asked the man in front of him.</p>
<p>“Greenberg does very much exist” Finstock answered with a huff “he just doesn’t attend this the Beacon Hills high school any more, or high school”. Now it was Stiles turn to raise his eyebrow, and coach sighed.</p>
<p>“It was some kind of test at first. Then I got kind of mad, you know, that no one noticed that I spoke to someone that wasn’t there anymore. And then I just kept doing it, I’d thought I’d stop when someone asked about the absence of a person.” he stated, and Stiles felt confused “I’ll admit that my inability to remember names, may have been a problem in the task”.</p>
<p>“What task?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Well, Stilinski, you’re the first one to notice in all the years I’ve worked here” he told Stiles. “Do you want to hear the story?” he asked. Stiles nodded. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Coach Finstock had started his career at Beacon Hills High school and soon noticed his students lack of interest in each other. If you were a cool kid, you were noticed, everyone else just kept to their own clusters, or faded into the woodwork. </p>
<p>In his first try outs, fall semester, one of the kids trying out for the team was a kid called Greenberg. He’d been one of those invisible kids you never took any notice of. He failed his first attempt to join the team.</p>
<p>He made the team on his second year, try out. Like Stiles he had the future of a qualified benchwarmer. Only everyone in the team seemed to ignore the kid. Finstock had taken to yelling his name, just to give him some attention. A couple of weeks into the semester, Greenberg’s parents had up and moved, and Greenberg was gone.</p>
<p>Coach had continued to yell at the boy, even if he was gone, just to see how long it would take for the team to notice he was gone. Kids had graduated, new kids had tried and made the team. No one had questioned Finstock’s rants over, complaints of, or even the scolding of the non-existent Greenberg.</p>
<p>In all the years Finstock had worked at Beacon Hills high school, no one had noticed the extra kid, that no one saw in Econ and on the Lacrosse field. No one noticed, until Stiles had. </p>
<p>Finstock had kept up with the kid, who was now living and working in a suburb to Los Angeles. A history teacher, with a wife and two kids. He didn’t have a clue how forgettable he’d been. </p>
<p>It all kind of broke Stiles heart, and he told Finstock that. He also told the pack, whom all got something to consider. There is always that one kid, that seems to blend into the walls, being invisible.</p>
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